Fort Worth Court Reverses JOA Breach Finding: Operator's Failure to Invoice Precludes Recovery for Statutory Lien Expenses

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's finding that CL III breached a joint operating agreement by acquiring and foreclosing a statutory construction lien on co-owned pipeline property, holding the JOA's plain language imposed no duty to proactively pay unbilled expenses. The Texas Supreme Court had previously distinguished between the co-owners' shared liability to the lienholder for construction debt and CL III's separate contractual obligations under the JOA's expense-sharing provisions, remanding for analysis of whether the JOA required payment without operator billing.